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Why do you need explicitly have the "self" argument in a Python method? [duplicate]
(10 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
Consider this code:
class example(object):
def __init__ (): # No self
test() # No self
def test(x,y): # No self
return x+y
def test1(x,y): # No self
return x-y
print(example.test(10,5))
print(example.test1(10,5))
15
5
This works as expected. I believe I can write a whole program not using self. What am I missing? What is this self; why is it needed in some practical way?
I have read a lot about it - (stack, Python documentation), but I just don't understand why it's needed, since I can obviously create a program without it.
You can perfectly create a program without it. But then you'd be missing one of the key features of classes. If you can do without self, I'd argue you can do without classes and just do something purely with functions :)
Classes allow you to create objects which have a PROPERTY associated to them, and self allows you to access those values. So say you have a square.
g code:
class Square(object):
def __init__ (self, length, height):
self.length = length # THIS square's length, not others
self.height = height # THIS square's height, not other
def print_length_and_height(self):
print(self.length, self.height) # THIS square's length and height
square1 = Square(2,2)
square2 = Square(4,4)
square1.print_length_and_height() # 2 2
square2.print_length_and_height() # 4 4
Now, this example is quite silly, of course, but i think it shows what SELF specifically is for: it refers to the particular instance of an object.
By all means, if you don't see the point to it, just do away with classes and just use functions, there nothing wrong with that.
You haven't utilised a class or object properly. Cutting out the garbage code, your program reduces to:
def test(x,y): #No class
return x+y
def test1(x,y): #No class
return x-y
print(example.test(10,5))
print(example.test1(10,5))
Output:
15
5
Your "class" is no more useful than if you wrapped your program in the nested structures:
if True:
for i in range(1):
...
A proper object will have attributes (data fields) and functions that operate on that data (see below). Your code has an empty object; hence, you have nothing on which to operate, no need for self, and no need for a class at all.
Rather, use a class when you need to encapsulate a data representation and associated operations. Below, I've reused some of your code to make example do some trivial complex number work. There are many extensions and improvements to make in this; I kept it relatively close to your original work.
class example(object):
def __init__(self, a, b):
self.a = a
self.b = b
def __repr__(self):
sign = ' + ' if self.b >= 0 else ' - '
return str(self.a) + sign + str(abs(self.b)) + 'i'
def add(self, x):
self.a += x.a
self.b += x.b
def sub(self, x):
self.a -= x.a
self.b -= x.b
complex1 = example(10, 5)
complex2 = example(-3, 2)
complex1.add(complex2)
print(complex1)
complex2.sub(complex1)
print(complex2)
Output:
7 + 7i
-10 - 5i
Are you familiar with Object-Oriented Paradigm?
If you don't you should check it. Python is a Object-Oriented Language and self lets you define your object properties.
An example:
You have a class named Vehicle. A vehicle could be a bike, a car, even a plane. So something you can include is a name and a type.
class Vehicle():
def init(self, name, type): # Constructor
self.name = name
self.type = type
def info(self):
print("I'm a ")
print(self.name)
That's all, now you have a vehicle with name and type. Every instance of Vehicle would have a name and a type different or not and every intance can access its own variables. I'm sorry I can't explain it better. Firstable you need to know Object-Oriented Paradigm knowledge. Please comment my answer if you have doubts & I'll answer you or give a link where it comes explained better.
Related
I am trying to modify an already defined class by changing an attribute's value. Importantly, I want this change to propagate internally.
For example, consider this class:
class Base:
x = 1
y = 2 * x
# Other attributes and methods might follow
assert Base.x == 1
assert Base.y == 2
I would like to change x to 2, making it equivalent to this.
class Base:
x = 2
y = 2 * x
assert Base.x == 2
assert Base.y == 4
But I would like to make it in the following way:
Base = injector(Base, x=2)
Is there a way to achieve this WITHOUT recompile the original class source code?
The effect you want to achieve belongs to the realm of "reactive programing" - a programing paradigm (from were the now ubiquitous Javascript library got its name as an inspiration).
While Python has a lot of mechanisms to allow that, one needs to write his code to actually make use of these mechanisms.
By default, plain Python code as the one you put in your example, uses the Imperative paradigm, which is eager: whenever an expression is encoutered, it is executed, and the result of that expression is used (in this case, the result is stored in the class attribute).
Python's advantages also can make it so that once you write a codebase that will allow some reactive code to take place, users of your codebase don't have to be aware of that, and things work more or less "magically".
But, as stated above, that is not free. For the case of being able to redefine y when x changes in
class Base:
x = 1
y = 2 * x
There are a couple paths that can be followed - the most important is that, at the time the "*" operator is executed (and that happens when Python is parsing the class body), at least one side of the operation is not a plain number anymore, but a special object which implements a custom __mul__ method (or __rmul__) in this case. Then, instead of storing a resulting number in y, the expression is stored somewhere, and when y is retrieved either as a class attribute, other mechanisms force the expression to resolve.
If you want this at instance level, rather than at class level, it would be easier to implement. But keep in mind that you'd have to define each operator on your special "source" class for primitive values.
Also, both this and the easier, instance descriptor approach using property are "lazily evaluated": that means, the value for y is calcualted when it is to be used (it can be cached if it will be used more than once). If you want to evaluate it whenever x is assigned (and not when y is consumed), that will require other mechanisms. Although caching the lazy approach can mitigate the need for eager evaluation to the point it should not be needed.
1 - Before digging there
Python's easiest way to do code like this is simply to write the expressions to be calculated as functions - and use the property built-in as a descriptor to retrieve these values. The drawback is small:
you just have to wrap your expressions in a function (and then, that function
in something that will add the descriptor properties to it, such as property). The gain is huge: you are free to use any Python code inside your expression, including function calls, object instantiation, I/O, and the like. (Note that the other approach requires wiring up each desired operator, just to get started).
The plain "101" approach to have what you want working for instances of Base is:
class Base:
x = 1
#property
def y(self):
return self.x * 2
b = Base()
b.y
-> 2
Base.x = 3
b.y
-> 6
The work of property can be rewritten so that retrieving y from the class, instead of an instance, achieves the effect as well (this is still easier than the other approach).
If this will work for you somehow, I'd recommend doing it. If you need to cache y's value until x actually changes, that can be done with normal coding
2 - Exactly what you asked for, with a metaclass
as stated above, Python'd need to know about the special status of your y attribute when calculcating its expression 2 * x. At assignment time, it would be already too late.
Fortunately Python 3 allow class bodies to run in a custom namespace for the attribute assignment by implementing the __prepare__ method in a metaclass, and then recording all that takes place, and replacing primitive attributes of interest by special crafted objects implementing __mul__ and other special methods.
Going this way could even allow values to be eagerly calculated, so they can work as plain Python objects, but register information so that a special injector function could recreate the class redoing all the attributes that depend on expressions. It could also implement lazy evaluation, somewhat as described above.
from collections import UserDict
import operator
class Reactive:
def __init__(self, value):
self._initial_value = value
self.values = {}
def __set_name__(self, owner, name):
self.name = name
self.values[owner] = self._initial_value
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
return self.values[owner]
def __set__(self, instance, value):
raise AttributeError("value can't be set directly - call 'injector' to change this value")
def value(self, cls=None):
return self.values.get(cls, self._initial_value)
op1 = value
#property
def result(self):
return self.value
# dynamically populate magic methods for operation overloading:
for name in "mul add sub truediv pow contains".split():
op = getattr(operator, name)
locals()[f"__{name}__"] = (lambda operator: (lambda self, other: ReactiveExpr(self, other, operator)))(op)
locals()[f"__r{name}__"] = (lambda operator: (lambda self, other: ReactiveExpr(other, self, operator)))(op)
class ReactiveExpr(Reactive):
def __init__(self, value, op2, operator):
self.op2 = op2
self.operator = operator
super().__init__(value)
def result(self, cls):
op1, op2 = self.op1(cls), self.op2
if isinstance(op1, Reactive):
op1 = op1.result(cls)
if isinstance(op2, Reactive):
op2 = op2.result(cls)
return self.operator(op1, op2)
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
return self.result(owner)
class AuxDict(UserDict):
def __init__(self, *args, _parent, **kwargs):
self.parent = _parent
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def __setitem__(self, item, value):
if isinstance(value, self.parent.reacttypes) and not item.startswith("_"):
value = Reactive(value)
super().__setitem__(item, value)
class MetaReact(type):
reacttypes = (int, float, str, bytes, list, tuple, dict)
def __prepare__(*args, **kwargs):
return AuxDict(_parent=__class__)
def __new__(mcls, name, bases, ns, **kwargs):
pre_registry = {}
cls = super().__new__(mcls, name, bases, ns.data, **kwargs)
#for name, obj in ns.items():
#if isinstance(obj, ReactiveExpr):
#pre_registry[name] = obj
#setattr(cls, name, obj.result()
for name, reactive in pre_registry.items():
_registry[cls, name] = reactive
return cls
def injector(cls, inplace=False, **kwargs):
original = cls
if not inplace:
cls = type(cls.__name__, (cls.__bases__), dict(cls.__dict__))
for name, attr in cls.__dict__.items():
if isinstance(attr, Reactive):
if isinstance(attr, ReactiveExpr) and name in kwargs:
raise AttributeError("Expression attributes can't be modified by injector")
attr.values[cls] = kwargs.get(name, attr.values[original])
return cls
class Base(metaclass=MetaReact):
x = 1
y = 2 * x
And, after pasting the snippet above in a REPL, here is the
result of using injector:
In [97]: Base2 = injector(Base, x=5)
In [98]: Base2.y
Out[98]: 10
The idea is complicated with that aspect that Base class is declared with dependent dynamically evaluated attributes. While we can inspect class's static attributes, I think there's no other way of getting dynamic expression except for parsing the class's sourcecode, find and replace the "injected" attribute name with its value and exec/eval the definition again. But that's the way you wanted to avoid. (moreover: if you expected injector to be unified for all classes).
If you want to proceed to rely on dynamically evaluated attributes define the dependent attribute as a lambda function.
class Base:
x = 1
y = lambda: 2 * Base.x
Base.x = 2
print(Base.y()) # 4
In python, is it possible to chain together class methods and functions together? For example, if I want to instantiate a class object and call a method on it that affects an instance variable's state, could I do that? Here is an example:
class Test(object):
def __init__(self):
self.x = 'Hello'
#classmethod
def make_upper(y):
y.x = y.x.upper()
What I'm wanting to do is this:
h = Test().make_upper()
I want to instantiate a class object and affect the state of a variable in one line of code, but I would also like to be able to chain together multiple functions that can affect state or do something else on the object. Is this possible in python like it is in jQuery?
Yes, sure. Just return self from the instance methods you are interested in:
class Test(object):
def __init__(self):
self.x = 'Hello'
def make_upper(self):
self.x = self.x.upper()
return self
def make_lower(self):
self.x = self.x.lower()
return self
h = Test().make_upper()
print(h.x)
Output:
HELLO
Yes and no. The chaining certainly works, but h is the return value of make_upper(), not the object returned by Test(). You need to write this as two lines.
h = Test()
h.make_upper()
However, PEP-572 was recently accepted for inclusion in Python 3.8, which means someday you could write
(h := Test()).make_upper()
The return value of Test() is assigned to h in the current scope and used as the value of the := expression, which then invokes its make_upper method. I'm not sure I would recommend using := in this case, though; the currently required syntax is much more readable.
I have run across a few examples of Python code that looks something like this:
class GiveNext :
list = ''
def __init__(self, list) :
GiveNext.list = list
def giveNext(self, i) :
retval = GiveNext.list[i]
return retval
class GiveABCs(GiveNext):
i = -1
def _init__(self, list) :
GiveNext.__init__(self, list)
def giveNext(self):
GiveABCs.i += 1
return GiveNext.giveNext(self, GiveABCs.i)
class Give123s(GiveNext):
i = -1
def _init__(self, list) :
GiveNext.__init__(self, list)
def giveNext(self):
Give123s.i += 1
return GiveNext.giveNext(self, Give123s.i)
for i in range(3):
print(GiveABCs('ABCDEFG').giveNext())
print(Give123s('12345').giveNext())
the output is: A 1 B 2 C 3
If I were more clever, I could figure out how to put the string literals inside the constructor...but that is not crucial right now.
My question is on the use of classes this way. Yes, an instance of the class gets created each time that that the call within the print() gets made. Yet the i's are 'permanent' in each class.
This strikes me as less of an object-oriented approach, and more of a way of using classes to accomplish encapsulation and/or a functional programming paradigm, since the instances are entirely transitory. In other words, an instance of the class is never instantiated for its own purposes; it is there only to allow access to the class-wide methods and variables within to do their thing, and then it is tossed away. In many cases, it seems like the class mechanism is used in a back-handed way, in order to leverage inheritance and name resolution/spacing: an instance of the class is never really required to be built or used, conceptually.
Is this standard Python form?
Bonus question: how would I put the string literals inside each class declaration? Right now, even if I change the _init__ for GiveABCs to
GiveNext.__init__(self, 'wxyz')
it completely ignores the 'wxyz' literal, and uses the 'ABCDEF' one - even though it is never mentioned...
Please don't learn Python with this code. As mentioned by others, this code goes against many Python principles.
One example: list is a Python builtin type. Don't overwrite it, especially not with a string instance!
The code also mixes class and instance variables and doesn't use super() in subclasses.
This code tries to simulate an iterator. So simply use an iterator:
give_abcs = iter('ABCDEFG')
give_123s = iter('12345')
for _ in range(3):
print(next(give_abcs))
print(next(give_123s))
# A
# 1
# B
# 2
# C
# 3
If you really want to fix the above code, you could use:
class GiveNext :
def __init__(self, iterable) :
self.i = - 1
self.iterable = iterable
def giveNext(self) :
self.i += 1
return self.iterable[self.i]
giveABCs = GiveNext('ABCDEFG')
give123s = GiveNext('12345')
for _ in range(3):
print(giveABCs.giveNext())
print(give123s.giveNext())
It outputs:
A
1
B
2
C
3
This code in the OP is an incredible amount of crap. Not only it is long, unreadable, misuses OO features, and does not use Python features at all (an iterator being a standard Python feature). Here is a suggestion for a more Pythonist approach:
giveABCs = iter('ABCDEFG')
give123s = iter('12345')
for i in range(3):
print(next(giveABCs))
print(next(give123s))
About your bonus question: I guess you are modifing the _init__() method of GiveABCs and Give123s. It is normal that whatever code you put in there has no effect, because the Python constructor is __init__() (with 2 leading underscores, not 1). So The constructor from GiveNext is not overloaded.
Please guide to an explain of the difference between
object = class()
and
var = class method returning a class:
class Countsome(object):
#classmethod
def get(cls, x, y):
self = cls()
sum = self.add2(x, y)
print sum
return cls
def add2(self, x, y):
sum = x+y
return sum
xyz = Countsome.get(5, 9)
==========================================
class CountSome(object):
def __init__(self):
pass
def add2(self, x, y):
sum = x+y
print sum
xyz = CountSome()
xyz.add2(5, 9)
Looking to understand where I should use one, I am just printing the sum so not returning, so please assume I am asking this question for these kind of tasks(where returning results like sum is not important).
And looking for answers like, which one would be efficient, when.
What are the benefits of each and scenarios best suited for each. Guide to a source if possible
You kinda get it wrong. classmethod should be use when you need to perform action that doesn't need an instance but does need the cls object:
A class method receives the class as implicit first argument, just like an instance method receives the instance.
For example, if you have a COUNTER object in your class which counts how many instances were instantiated.
The second code is actually using staticmethod; that is a method defined in a class but don't need access to any class / instance attributes. staticmethod can be defined outside of a class but resides in it for convenience
Hello Ive only been coding for about 3 weeks now and I stumbled across this code that doesn't do anything when I put it in.
class calculation(object):
def multiply(self, a=5, b=6):
self.a = a
self.b = b
I know its simple but I am still new to programming, if anybody could give a brief explanation to why this doesn't work I would really appreciate it. Thanks
It doesn't work because of an indentation error. Indentation is how Python knows that a def is a method on a class rather than a plain function at the top level, how it knows which lines are part of a loop and where the loop ends, etc. You have to get it right. But you've got this:
class calculation(object):
def multiply(self, a=5, b=6):
self.a = a
self.b = b
Because the def is dedented back to the same level as the class, there's nothing inside the class. That's not legal; every compound statement (a statement that ends with a :, like a class definition) has to be followed by something indented.
On top of that, the fact that multiply takes a self parameter means it's almost certainly intended to be a method of some class.
So, to fix it:
class calculation(object):
def multiply(self, a=5, b=6):
self.a = a
self.b = b
And now, it works. But it doesn't seem to do anything, does it?
Of course it's always possible that you didn't copy the whole thing. Or that wherever you copied it from, the code was buggy and missing a line. But let's assume this really is a useful function from someone's useful code (except for the indentation error).
First, all you're doing is defining a class. If never create an instance of that class, much less call any methods on it, the class doesn't do anything. But let's assume you knew that, and you know how to create an instance and call methods. It still doesn't seem to do anything.
Most likely (again, assuming this is what you're actually asking, and that you copied the code right, and…) what this is doing is storing the operands to use later.
A realistic example of why you'd want to do that would be in some kind of expression-tree library, that calls multiply whenever it parses a *, and gradually builds up complex expressions out of simple ones, maybe so you can compile the expression to C code or do algebraic transformations on it.
But that probably sounded like gobbledegook to you, so here's a simple but silly example:
class calculation(object):
def multiply(self, a=5, b=6):
self.a = a
self.b = b
table = []
for a in range(1, 5):
row = []
for b in range(1, 5):
col = calculation()
col.multiply(a, b)
row.append(col)
table.append(row)
print('Times table')
for row in table:
for col in row:
print('{} x {} = {}'.format(col.a, col.b, col.a * col.b))
Your problem is that the function inside the class is misindented. Try indenting that. Also, for your multiply function, you probably want to return the two values multiplied:
class calculation(object):
def multiply(self, a=5, b=6):
self.a = a
self.b = b
return self.a * self.b